IKP Knowledge Park to support 300 start-ups in five years

IKP Knowledge Park to support 300 start-ups in five years
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Highlights

City-based IKP Knowledge Park, formerly ICICI Knowledge Park, is planning to support over 300 startups and innovative companies in varied fields over the next five years. So far, the company run by a trust had supported over 175 companies majority of which are startups.

Deepanwita ChattopadyayTo facilitate `300 cr funding for them; Focus on medical devices

Our plan is to take number of the companies supported by us to about 500 in five years or by the year 2020 from the current 175. So far, we have facilitated funds to the tune of 100 crore – Deepanwita Chattopadyay

Hyderabad: City-based IKP Knowledge Park, formerly ICICI Knowledge Park, is planning to support over 300 startups and innovative companies in varied fields over the next five years. So far, the company run by a trust had supported over 175 companies majority of which are startups.

“Our plan is to take number of the companies supported by us to about 500 in five years or by the year 2020 from the current 175. So far, we have facilitated funds to the tune of Rs 100 crore. We may have to raise over Rs 300 crore to support the new set of companies,” Deepanwita Chattopadyay, Chairman and CEO, IKP Knowledge Park, told The Hans India on the sidelines of an event here.

The not-for-profit company will now extend support to the companies that work in the areas of medical devices, product development, etc. “We will extend support to the startups from Hyderabad, Bengaluru and other parts of the country,” she maintained.

IKP operates a 200-acre facility with same name in Genome Valley near Shameerpet, which is a home to research and development units of several multinational and Indian pharmaceutical companies. It also has an incubation centre where as many as 49 companies have been incubated so far with focus on life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, among others. Set up with financial support from ICICI, the park is now owned and run by IKP trust.

According to her, startup ecosystem has improved in the country over the past three years. “The environment is a lot better now and there are more avenues of funding opportunities for innovation and startups,” she said.

She further said that Hyderabad had better environment for startups in life sciences and pharma. “As a large number of pharmaceutical companies are located here, startups in this space definitely flourish here. However, Bangalore is better place when it comes to startups in the area of engineering and product development,” Ms Chattopadyay reasoned, adding that IKP recently supported a Bangalore-based company developing drones.

On the failure rate in the startups, she said nearly 15 per cent of the startups supported by IKP were working very well. “We had seen about 35 per cent of the 49 companies we incubated, not doing well. But there are chances that they will also grow in future,” she explained. The IKP provides funding of anywhere between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore to the startup it supports.

By P Madhusudhan Reddy

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